Post by Arctura on Aug 2, 2014 18:17:58 GMT
I've been wanting to do this one for a while, now. Remember that post on Tumblr about the wizard in the Leaky Cauldron who was wandlessly stirring his drink and reading the Stephen Hawkings book? Well, I was inspired, and to keep up my Merlin obsession, this will be a crossover - rather short, though.
Unless, I get ideas for an actual plot and decide to make it more than a oneshot.
If you don't know, here's the URL for an article that explains it all:
www.buzzfeed.com/kmallikarjuna/did-we-overlook-the-most-important-wizard-in-harry-potter
Unless, I get ideas for an actual plot and decide to make it more than a oneshot.
If you don't know, here's the URL for an article that explains it all:
www.buzzfeed.com/kmallikarjuna/did-we-overlook-the-most-important-wizard-in-harry-potter
A Moment in Time
“Another quiet day at the Leaky Cauldron,” a dark haired wizard mused, already tiring of the place. The small grubby looking pub which served as a gateway between muggle London and the wizarding thoroughfare of Diagon Alley was quite well-known amongst wizards and witches, but even still it always seemed to be in a dark and shabby state. Its medieval atmosphere reminded him of his own roots, serving as both a place of solace and gloom.
Tom, the bald, toothless bartender came over to his table and placed his usual morning fare in front of him: a plate of sausage with gravy and biscuits and a mug of hot black coffee. He thanked the man graciously as the tantalizing aroma began to wake his senses.
"Think you'll find what you're lookin' for today, Mr Myrddin?"
The man sighed, scratching at his dark stubble thoughtfully. "I can only hope." He added frustratedly, “Sadly it was only a vague feeling that brought me here. I'm not even sure what it is I'm supposed to be keeping an eye out for.”
The old man gave his guest an encouraging smile. "I'll keep my fingers crossed for you." He glanced down at the book lying on the table and squinted to read the words. "A brief history of... time..." His brow arched skeptically at this and he gave the young man a quizzical look. "Big bangs and black holes? Isn't that muggle stuff?"
Myrddin shook his head. "It’s science, Tom. You would be surprised at the connections between the muggles' science and our magic. In fact, I'm quite sure if they mastered their sciences they would be as capable of 'magic' as we are."
The old bartender gave his head a shake and a short chuckle. "If you say so, young sir!" With that he went back to his bar where he set about wiping glasses and mugs clean.
A small smile crossed the dark haired wizard's features. Not many of the magical lot liked to know that they shared much in common with the muggle folk, even the ones that didn't look down on them. He opened his book and picked up reading from where he had left off the previous day, absently eating his breakfast and drinking his coffee. It was still quite early, so the pub was near empty. However, over the next few hours, it slowly began to come to life.
A short, rotund man in a top hat skipped in and went straight to the bar. He stayed there, drinking his ale and conversing quietly with Tom. A group of old women came in noisily from Diagon Alley and sat in the far corner where they ordered sherries and continued chatting amongst themselves. Myrddin noticed one of the hags had lit up a pipe and was blowing thick clouds of smoke that hung about them. Several others meandered in, every one of them minding their own business.
Tom had come over and cleared his dishes when he saw the wizard had finished with his meal. The bartender also brought him a fresh cup of coffee, this time bringing a small bowl of white sugar cubes at the man's request. Still quite absorbed in his reading, Myrddin twiddled his fingers above the bowl and three small cubes came floating out and dropped themselves into his steaming mug. A spoon followed behind the cubes and the wizard began twirling his index finger above the mug, causing the submerged spoon to stir the liquid inside.
At that moment, the door from muggle London opened and a large man walked in, followed by a small, messy haired boy with glasses. The low buzz of the customers' chatter stopped and everyone peered to see who had entered. "The usual, Hagrid?" Tom asked from his place behind the bar. The customers returned to their business, waving and smiling at Hagrid in a familiar manner. Clearly he was a regular here.
The huge man shook his head and replied, "Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business." He clapped his great hand on the small boy's shoulder, nearly knocking the kid into the floor. Myrddin chuckled at this, eyeing the boy curiously. There was something about him that was intriguing to the wizard. Myrddin felt there was a great destiny surrounding him. Was this boy the reason he had felt the need to come here?
"Good lord, is this..." Tom said, interrupting his thoughts. "Can this be..." The pub fell completely silent again as the barman's tone had attracted his patrons' attentions. "Bless my soul," he whispered in amazement. "Harry Potter... what an honor." He rushed out from behind his bar and seized the boy's hand eagerly. "Welcome back, Mr Potter, welcome back."
At the corner of his vision, Myrddin saw that the old hag in the back corner was now puffing on an unlit pipe distractedly. As if someone had just thrown a priceless object into the air for all to grab at, the Leaky Cauldron's patrons rushed to their feet and surrounded the two excitedly. Each one of them shook the shocked boy's hands, some of them more than once, and introduced themselves eagerly. He stopped stirring his drink and set his book on the table in front of him.
“Is this boy the one we've been searching for all these years?” he wondered, rising to his feet. Slowly, nervously, he made his way to the edge of the crowd. Myrddin knew, of course, everything the rest of the wizarding world knew about Harry Potter. “The boy who lived…” His mind worked furiously as he tried to figure out if this boy was the reincarnation of the once and future king - the dearest friend he had ever known. A gap formed as each person moved to get a different view of the infamous boy with the lightening bolt scar on his forehead.
"I've seen you before! You bowed to me once in a shop!" The man to which the boy now spoke got so worked up at this that his top hat fell right off and he ranted excitedly to everyone around.
Everyone being momentarily distracted by Dedalus Diggle's antics, Myrddin took this opportunity to cut in front of the boy and shook his hand firmly. His blue eyes peered deep into the boy's emerald green eyes. "Merlin..." he began to introduce himself, his mind reeling with the possibility that he had finally found his long lost friend. However, he quickly shook his head as he remembered he had stopped using his true name centuries ago. To cover up his mistake, he continued, "Merlin's beard, it's an honor to meet you. My name is Myrddin. Alaric Myrddin."
In the next few seconds, the wizard quickly assessed the boy standing in front of him with a sliver of his magic. His heart fell as his probing concluded that this boy had a very different destiny from the one for whom the wizard was searching. He had felt such a great pull to this spot but now he knew it was only the magnitude of Harry's life path which had captured his mind's senses. Stepping aside to let the crowd return to fawning over the boy, Merlin returned to his table and continued to watch the proceedings, the hole in his heart wrenching as he felt again just how much he missed his dear friend Arthur.
As the crowd dissipated, and all that remained was a nervous, stuttering man, the door from muggle London opened again and Merlin looked to see who it was. He smiled as he recognized his very old friend to whom he had sent word to meet up with here. The man seemed to notice him as well and he strode over with a huge grin on his face. "Leon, you old git, its good to see you again! You haven't changed a bit!"
The man sat across the round table from him and gestured to Tom to bring him an ale. "Merlin," he greeted, causing the wizard to wince at the use of his true name, and clasped his friend's hands earnestly. "That Cup of Life did me more favors than the Druids figured it would, I think." Merlin quirked an eyebrow, much like Gaius, curious at the story he sensed behind the words. "How have things been?"
"It has indeed. Things have been uninteresting and uneventful," Merlin answered with a bored sigh. "Any leads on whether our query is... findable yet?" The man shook his head, wavy red-brown hair falling into his blue-green eyes. They both sighed at this, disheartened at the thought of having to wait even longer for their king to return. Tom darted in to give Leon his drink and then left just as quickly to tend to the rest of his customers. There had been some dark goings-on in Britain lately. They had both expected to have discovered their query long before now, given that his land was in danger once again.
Merlin had been quite surprised that Arthur hadn't surfaced during the World Wars in the early 1900's. Leon took a long drink of ale as they pondered in silence for a moment. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Merlin said cheerily, "I'll be honest, I was half expecting to see you all hunched over and wrinkled after all these years. How did you know it was me by the way?"
Leon chuckled at his old friend's comment then answered, "Unless you're playing some old geezer, you always make your disguises with dark hair and you were smiling right at me."
The wizard's brows shot up in defiance. "Those aren't very good things to make deductions by! What if I had just been some random bugger that fancied you?"
His friend's brow raised roguishly. "Are you some random bugger that fancies me?" he inquired with a sly grin.
Merlin crinkled his nose. "No... thanks. But I'm not. I'm just saying... you need to be more careful. Its bad enough that your appearance never changes and you refuse to alter your name every few decades like any normal immortal would."
The ageless knight rolled his eyes and said in a charmingly cocky manner, "Do we have to do this everytime we meet up? Face it, Alaric, my look and name are timeless." Then more quietly, "Plus I'm not a powerful wizard like you. I don't possess the magic and knowledge that so many would apparently kill you to get. So lets skip the lecture and move on to the reason you summoned me here. I'm sure its not just because you missed me." He batted his eyelashes flirtatiously, well aware of how uncomfortable such behavior made his friend, especially when he had once been the most stoic and serious knight of them all.
The dark haired man shook his head in fond exasperation. "To tell you the truth, I think I may have called you needlessly but tell me what you think anyway." He jerked his head towards the messy haired boy.
Leon looked obligingly. The boy was still speaking to the stuttering man. Their gazes met for a moment. He surveyed the boy closely, looking for any sign of the king he had been so proud to serve but he couldn't find any. When he shook his head finally, he asked, "Is it possible that we've already found him and didn't even realize it? I mean... what if there isn't going to be some telling physical feature like we've hoped?"
The wizard nodded his head, this thought having occurred to him more times than he liked to recall. "I know... but other than prophecies and signs, we have nothing else to go on. I was hoping it would just sort of... I don't know, jump out at us. I mean, seriously, how many people in the world have ever been or could even pretend to be like Arthur Pendragon?" Both of the men laughed as they recalled their king's pride and vanity, his courage and sense of honor, his oafishness- they knew deep down that it wasn't going to be that easy and the knowledge made them feel a bit like Uther's old hunting hounds after they had lost their target’s scent- lost and desperate.
After several moments of morose silence, in which Leon finished his tankard of ale, he took it upon himself to lighten the mood. "Barman!" he called jovially, the sudden noise making Merlin jump a little. Tom peered politely at him while Dedalus Diggle gave him a queer glare. Clearly they had been deep in conversation. "Two more ales, please. And keep them coming," the knight continued, managing to be both rowdy and respectful as only a true knight could. He slid Merlin's coffee to the edge of the table with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "If there's one thing I've learned in my travels, friend, its that when one is utterly befuddled by one's own troubles, the best solution is to suck down a few drinks and let the lack of inhibitions inspire you."
Tom hurried over and set the two tankards in front of the men. "Will you be needing accommodations, mister uh…"
"Young. Leon Young," he submitted. "And yes, I'll be staying at least a night, if not longer."
The bald man nodded and left with Merlin's abandoned coffee mug, saying over his shoulder, "I'll have a room prepared for you then. Just call on me when you're ready to retire."
Leon gave the man a gracious nod and smiled across the table at Merlin. "What a kind barman."
The wizard laughed, grasping the tankard in hand. "You'd be kind too if you saw signs of a patron about to send an overflow of knuts and sickles into your pockets."
The knight followed suit and raised it expectantly over the center of the old wooden table. "I'm always kind," he quipped as they knocked their glasses amiably together and then began their afternoon celebration.
“Another quiet day at the Leaky Cauldron,” a dark haired wizard mused, already tiring of the place. The small grubby looking pub which served as a gateway between muggle London and the wizarding thoroughfare of Diagon Alley was quite well-known amongst wizards and witches, but even still it always seemed to be in a dark and shabby state. Its medieval atmosphere reminded him of his own roots, serving as both a place of solace and gloom.
Tom, the bald, toothless bartender came over to his table and placed his usual morning fare in front of him: a plate of sausage with gravy and biscuits and a mug of hot black coffee. He thanked the man graciously as the tantalizing aroma began to wake his senses.
"Think you'll find what you're lookin' for today, Mr Myrddin?"
The man sighed, scratching at his dark stubble thoughtfully. "I can only hope." He added frustratedly, “Sadly it was only a vague feeling that brought me here. I'm not even sure what it is I'm supposed to be keeping an eye out for.”
The old man gave his guest an encouraging smile. "I'll keep my fingers crossed for you." He glanced down at the book lying on the table and squinted to read the words. "A brief history of... time..." His brow arched skeptically at this and he gave the young man a quizzical look. "Big bangs and black holes? Isn't that muggle stuff?"
Myrddin shook his head. "It’s science, Tom. You would be surprised at the connections between the muggles' science and our magic. In fact, I'm quite sure if they mastered their sciences they would be as capable of 'magic' as we are."
The old bartender gave his head a shake and a short chuckle. "If you say so, young sir!" With that he went back to his bar where he set about wiping glasses and mugs clean.
A small smile crossed the dark haired wizard's features. Not many of the magical lot liked to know that they shared much in common with the muggle folk, even the ones that didn't look down on them. He opened his book and picked up reading from where he had left off the previous day, absently eating his breakfast and drinking his coffee. It was still quite early, so the pub was near empty. However, over the next few hours, it slowly began to come to life.
A short, rotund man in a top hat skipped in and went straight to the bar. He stayed there, drinking his ale and conversing quietly with Tom. A group of old women came in noisily from Diagon Alley and sat in the far corner where they ordered sherries and continued chatting amongst themselves. Myrddin noticed one of the hags had lit up a pipe and was blowing thick clouds of smoke that hung about them. Several others meandered in, every one of them minding their own business.
Tom had come over and cleared his dishes when he saw the wizard had finished with his meal. The bartender also brought him a fresh cup of coffee, this time bringing a small bowl of white sugar cubes at the man's request. Still quite absorbed in his reading, Myrddin twiddled his fingers above the bowl and three small cubes came floating out and dropped themselves into his steaming mug. A spoon followed behind the cubes and the wizard began twirling his index finger above the mug, causing the submerged spoon to stir the liquid inside.
At that moment, the door from muggle London opened and a large man walked in, followed by a small, messy haired boy with glasses. The low buzz of the customers' chatter stopped and everyone peered to see who had entered. "The usual, Hagrid?" Tom asked from his place behind the bar. The customers returned to their business, waving and smiling at Hagrid in a familiar manner. Clearly he was a regular here.
The huge man shook his head and replied, "Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business." He clapped his great hand on the small boy's shoulder, nearly knocking the kid into the floor. Myrddin chuckled at this, eyeing the boy curiously. There was something about him that was intriguing to the wizard. Myrddin felt there was a great destiny surrounding him. Was this boy the reason he had felt the need to come here?
"Good lord, is this..." Tom said, interrupting his thoughts. "Can this be..." The pub fell completely silent again as the barman's tone had attracted his patrons' attentions. "Bless my soul," he whispered in amazement. "Harry Potter... what an honor." He rushed out from behind his bar and seized the boy's hand eagerly. "Welcome back, Mr Potter, welcome back."
At the corner of his vision, Myrddin saw that the old hag in the back corner was now puffing on an unlit pipe distractedly. As if someone had just thrown a priceless object into the air for all to grab at, the Leaky Cauldron's patrons rushed to their feet and surrounded the two excitedly. Each one of them shook the shocked boy's hands, some of them more than once, and introduced themselves eagerly. He stopped stirring his drink and set his book on the table in front of him.
“Is this boy the one we've been searching for all these years?” he wondered, rising to his feet. Slowly, nervously, he made his way to the edge of the crowd. Myrddin knew, of course, everything the rest of the wizarding world knew about Harry Potter. “The boy who lived…” His mind worked furiously as he tried to figure out if this boy was the reincarnation of the once and future king - the dearest friend he had ever known. A gap formed as each person moved to get a different view of the infamous boy with the lightening bolt scar on his forehead.
"I've seen you before! You bowed to me once in a shop!" The man to which the boy now spoke got so worked up at this that his top hat fell right off and he ranted excitedly to everyone around.
Everyone being momentarily distracted by Dedalus Diggle's antics, Myrddin took this opportunity to cut in front of the boy and shook his hand firmly. His blue eyes peered deep into the boy's emerald green eyes. "Merlin..." he began to introduce himself, his mind reeling with the possibility that he had finally found his long lost friend. However, he quickly shook his head as he remembered he had stopped using his true name centuries ago. To cover up his mistake, he continued, "Merlin's beard, it's an honor to meet you. My name is Myrddin. Alaric Myrddin."
In the next few seconds, the wizard quickly assessed the boy standing in front of him with a sliver of his magic. His heart fell as his probing concluded that this boy had a very different destiny from the one for whom the wizard was searching. He had felt such a great pull to this spot but now he knew it was only the magnitude of Harry's life path which had captured his mind's senses. Stepping aside to let the crowd return to fawning over the boy, Merlin returned to his table and continued to watch the proceedings, the hole in his heart wrenching as he felt again just how much he missed his dear friend Arthur.
As the crowd dissipated, and all that remained was a nervous, stuttering man, the door from muggle London opened again and Merlin looked to see who it was. He smiled as he recognized his very old friend to whom he had sent word to meet up with here. The man seemed to notice him as well and he strode over with a huge grin on his face. "Leon, you old git, its good to see you again! You haven't changed a bit!"
The man sat across the round table from him and gestured to Tom to bring him an ale. "Merlin," he greeted, causing the wizard to wince at the use of his true name, and clasped his friend's hands earnestly. "That Cup of Life did me more favors than the Druids figured it would, I think." Merlin quirked an eyebrow, much like Gaius, curious at the story he sensed behind the words. "How have things been?"
"It has indeed. Things have been uninteresting and uneventful," Merlin answered with a bored sigh. "Any leads on whether our query is... findable yet?" The man shook his head, wavy red-brown hair falling into his blue-green eyes. They both sighed at this, disheartened at the thought of having to wait even longer for their king to return. Tom darted in to give Leon his drink and then left just as quickly to tend to the rest of his customers. There had been some dark goings-on in Britain lately. They had both expected to have discovered their query long before now, given that his land was in danger once again.
Merlin had been quite surprised that Arthur hadn't surfaced during the World Wars in the early 1900's. Leon took a long drink of ale as they pondered in silence for a moment. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Merlin said cheerily, "I'll be honest, I was half expecting to see you all hunched over and wrinkled after all these years. How did you know it was me by the way?"
Leon chuckled at his old friend's comment then answered, "Unless you're playing some old geezer, you always make your disguises with dark hair and you were smiling right at me."
The wizard's brows shot up in defiance. "Those aren't very good things to make deductions by! What if I had just been some random bugger that fancied you?"
His friend's brow raised roguishly. "Are you some random bugger that fancies me?" he inquired with a sly grin.
Merlin crinkled his nose. "No... thanks. But I'm not. I'm just saying... you need to be more careful. Its bad enough that your appearance never changes and you refuse to alter your name every few decades like any normal immortal would."
The ageless knight rolled his eyes and said in a charmingly cocky manner, "Do we have to do this everytime we meet up? Face it, Alaric, my look and name are timeless." Then more quietly, "Plus I'm not a powerful wizard like you. I don't possess the magic and knowledge that so many would apparently kill you to get. So lets skip the lecture and move on to the reason you summoned me here. I'm sure its not just because you missed me." He batted his eyelashes flirtatiously, well aware of how uncomfortable such behavior made his friend, especially when he had once been the most stoic and serious knight of them all.
The dark haired man shook his head in fond exasperation. "To tell you the truth, I think I may have called you needlessly but tell me what you think anyway." He jerked his head towards the messy haired boy.
Leon looked obligingly. The boy was still speaking to the stuttering man. Their gazes met for a moment. He surveyed the boy closely, looking for any sign of the king he had been so proud to serve but he couldn't find any. When he shook his head finally, he asked, "Is it possible that we've already found him and didn't even realize it? I mean... what if there isn't going to be some telling physical feature like we've hoped?"
The wizard nodded his head, this thought having occurred to him more times than he liked to recall. "I know... but other than prophecies and signs, we have nothing else to go on. I was hoping it would just sort of... I don't know, jump out at us. I mean, seriously, how many people in the world have ever been or could even pretend to be like Arthur Pendragon?" Both of the men laughed as they recalled their king's pride and vanity, his courage and sense of honor, his oafishness- they knew deep down that it wasn't going to be that easy and the knowledge made them feel a bit like Uther's old hunting hounds after they had lost their target’s scent- lost and desperate.
After several moments of morose silence, in which Leon finished his tankard of ale, he took it upon himself to lighten the mood. "Barman!" he called jovially, the sudden noise making Merlin jump a little. Tom peered politely at him while Dedalus Diggle gave him a queer glare. Clearly they had been deep in conversation. "Two more ales, please. And keep them coming," the knight continued, managing to be both rowdy and respectful as only a true knight could. He slid Merlin's coffee to the edge of the table with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "If there's one thing I've learned in my travels, friend, its that when one is utterly befuddled by one's own troubles, the best solution is to suck down a few drinks and let the lack of inhibitions inspire you."
Tom hurried over and set the two tankards in front of the men. "Will you be needing accommodations, mister uh…"
"Young. Leon Young," he submitted. "And yes, I'll be staying at least a night, if not longer."
The bald man nodded and left with Merlin's abandoned coffee mug, saying over his shoulder, "I'll have a room prepared for you then. Just call on me when you're ready to retire."
Leon gave the man a gracious nod and smiled across the table at Merlin. "What a kind barman."
The wizard laughed, grasping the tankard in hand. "You'd be kind too if you saw signs of a patron about to send an overflow of knuts and sickles into your pockets."
The knight followed suit and raised it expectantly over the center of the old wooden table. "I'm always kind," he quipped as they knocked their glasses amiably together and then began their afternoon celebration.
